Would They Bully Obama for 'Talking White'?

The Root's political correspondent, Keli Goff, writes in a piece for the Huffington Post that bullying kids for the way they speak is "disastrous for our community," and she wonders whether the perpetrators would apply the same scrutiny to the president.

The Root's political correspondent, Keli Goff, writes in a piece for the Huffington Post that bullying kids for the way they speak is "disastrous for our community," and she wonders whether the perpetrators would apply the same scrutiny to the president.

When Logan West, the newly crowned Miss Teen USA, announced that she wanted to use her crown and platform to help end bullying, that wasn't much of a surprise ...

Logan was targeted in part for being biracial, but more specifically for acting and talking white. The reason I found this so shocking is because I didn't realize "white" was an official language, like Spanish or Swahili.

The domino effect of this thought process is proving disastrous for our community ...

Is it any wonder then that some states have a less than 50% graduation rate among black males?

I'd love to ask some of the kids who teased Logan West if they think she "talks white" in all of the TV interviews she has participated in since winning her title. I'd also like to ask them if they think she'd be better off talking like them, and therefore getting to sit at home watching the winner on TV, just like they are now. I'd also like to ask them if they think First Lady Michelle Obama talks white. After all, every speech or interview I have ever heard her give has been grammatically flawless.

Then I'd like to ask them if they think President Obama "talks white," and if so, if they'd rather he talk the way they think he should, from his private home, as a private citizen. Because he surely wouldn't have become a United States senator, let alone president, if he talked like them.

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